Liberal Party of Venezuela

The Liberal Party was a liberal political party that existed in Venezuela from 1840 to 1899. The party was founded by Antonio Leocadio Guzman through an editorial in the El Venezolano newspaper, and the party rivalled the powerful Conservative Party of Venezuela, which dominated the state's politics from 1830 to 1870. During the presidency of Jose Tadeo Monagas during the 1850s, Venezuela abolished capital punishment for political crimes, and the country was the first to totally abolish the death penalty for all crimes, an act passed by President Juan Crisostomo Falcon during the 1860s. In 1870, the party seized power after a revolution, and it dissolved in 1899. It was not until 1941 that a political party would hold power, as Venezuela was led by a series of military regimes until then.